Martha Bigelow moderated an exciting, celebratory panel of recent graduates from CEHD to hear from each their perspectives on how TERI has impacted each as a new teacher. Panelists included Jennifer Eik, Second Languages and Cultures ’13, currently teaching at Roosevelt High School; Callie Moylan, Elementary Education ’13, currently teaching at Lucy Laney K-8; and Ahmed Amin, Social Studies ’11, currently teaching at Roosevelt High School.

What they said:
“What has prepared me for my teaching was first, and foremost, the Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) that we did in the Great Lessons in the Post Bacc program. We did a lot of identity work and at first, I was resistant… because I just felt like ‘what’s the relevance’ and ‘this isn’t what I signed up for.’ But we did a lot of work on: how we viewed the world, what biases we walked into the classroom with, and how that affects our instruction. Now, looking back on that year, I have to say it was one of the most positively influential years of my life. I learned so much about myself and that’s positively influenced my first year of teaching as I’ve been able to reflect… be more conscious and aware of how I view my students and how I should change my instruction too.”
– Jennifer Eik
“I can attribute my success to the edTPA which very comparable to the Standards of Effective Instruction (SOEI) in Minneapolis Public Schools… the rubrics are almost identical and so having to go through the edTPA and really think about how to create and film a high quality lesson…. That really helped me a lot for as far as knowing what to do, what to have ready, and how to prepare my class. Also, my success as a white teacher in a predominately black school is that– as my principal says — ‘you have to be comfortable with yourself’… and I know I’m a white teacher in a predominately black school but I’m here for the right reason, I’m ready to teach, I want to teach these kids, I believe in these kids, I know they’re smart, and I hope that that attitude is what is reflected in my students’ achievements.”
– Callie Moylan
“By having Jehanne there, placed as the TERI school liaison… doing some work with teachers in research partnerships there on critical pedagogy she came into my class and took that research opportunity to really transformed it so it was student centered and students were creating authentic intellectual work. We were doing fabulous work by the end of that research opportunity…. Having Jehanne there and people like Jenna has really helped my development and has turned around plenty of other classrooms at Roosevelt High school. It’s sort of an invaluable experience having the student teachers come in and see how those methods they’re learning in their program are actually being practiced in the classroom. I think that helps them out also.”
– Ahmed Amin